v3.5 – Now Smartphone/Mobile Device-Capable

06-02-1995

On this day, 15 years ago, I married a very remarkable lady.  The church where we got married is long gone, replaced by a superhighway, but I love her more today than even that day.

It’s a school night here, and the best we could do was a family dinner out.  The kids asked us if we were nervous the day we got married.  Almost in unison, we both responded – “No, cuz I knew he/she was the one.”

Happy 15th, Becky.  I love you.

TLL AAA Cubs 2010

I put together a quick video recap of the TLL AAA Cubs 2010 season.

This season was dominated by rain.  We had more rainouts and rescheduled games than I can ever recall.  Very wet spring.

Here is the video:

• iPod/iPad/iPod Touch
• Windows
• H.264 (Higher-Res)

For the technically-minded (geeks), here’s a little more info on “the making of” the video.  Stills were from a couple of different cameras.  One of them was a Pentax K200 (not sure about the other one).

The music, one of my favorite parts, was from Todd Rundgren’s No World Order CD.  I thought it was appropriate since Reed is a TR fan:

Reed and Todd Rundgren

Video composition was constructed using:

1. Adobe Photoshop for image editing, logo deconstruction/reconstruction into PSD format
2. A custom app from Todd Rundgren used to remove vocals from the soundtrack
3. Apple Soundtrack Pro for editing/cleanup and normalization of audio files
4. Apple Motion 4 for image segments and logo animation
5. Final Cut Pro for final composition
6. Apple Compressor for rendering

SoundTrack Pro

Then there were all those video segments….each put together with Motion 4.  I hadn’t ever done a spinning logo animation, but it was pretty simple in motion once I had the logo deconstructed into layered pieces to work with.  While a daunting program initially, this program makes a lot of sense.

Motion 4

Then final composition using Final Cut Studio, with rendering in Compressor:

Final Cut

I had a bit of fun putting together.  Enjoy.

Today we said goodbye to our first child, Hallie.   Hallie had been fighting cancer for several months, and was beginning to suffer so we made that tough decision, and elected to let her go.

Hallie was born in April 1995 to a Cocker spaniel mother and a Beagle father.  She was a pound puppy.   I picked her up on June 10, 1995,  6 days after Becky and I got married.  My Mom told me shortly before she died in January that she always thought that this was either a bold move or a very stupid one.  I prefer the former.

I remember our very first day together vividly.  Becky was studying for her CPA, and I was putting moving boxes into the attic of our new home in Chandler AZ.  I remember standing on top of the ladder, looking down at that tiny creature and those big brown eyes and thinking that I was going to have a very difficult day, roughly 15 years in the future.  Today was that day.

For those that didn’t have the privilege of encountering Hallie, here’s a brief recap of one of her life, and what she meant to us.

She was a naughty little puppy

Hallie was  very naughty little puppy with ears too big for her head.  For the first few weeks after she came to live with us, my daily activities included reburying the drip lines .  For our Oregon friends, plant irrigation in AZ involves drip lines that are buried just under the surface. They are very tempting for puppies.

To this day, one of the most amazing things I’ve seen was Hallie’s attention to detail.  Hallie managed to carefully unzip the cushion zipper from our [then] new couch and remove all the stuffing.  Christmas was equally as fun.  She chewed the plug ends off of the Christmas tree lights.  It’s a miracle she survived puppyhood.

After she got a little bigger, I started running with Hallie.  Hallie got up out of a warm bed (she slept with us) at 4am most mornings and ran hard.  At one point she was doing 30 miles a week with me, and was 35 pounds of solid muscle.

And then kids came along.

Hallie and Reed on Guard Duty

Hallie and Reed became best buds quickly.  They could often be found on guard duty n the front window of another new house in Gilbert, AZ.   And until very recently, she could be found in his room “putting him to bed.”  It was one of the coolest things to see.

In September 2001,  we found out we were having quadruplets (still hoping someone can explain to me how that happened).  Right after Christmas 2001, Becky went on doctor-ordered bedrest for 3.5 months .  Hallie was her constant companion and very rarely left her side.  I think she kept Becky sane, while the babies were growing inside her.

After the babies arrived, Hallie could be found participating in nighttime feedings.  She didn’t get much work done, but she was a good companion.

Feeding Time Companion

In May of 2004, we moved from AZ to Portland.  There was discussion of Hallie staying behind with Nana and Papa in AZ, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of her not coming with us.  So we changed climates.

In 2006 or 2007 (can’t remember), I started to notice Hallie moving slower when climbing stairs, maybe a little arthritis so she retired from running and took to minding all the kids.

But she wasn’t done with me yet.  We used to play a game where I would sneak up behind her and grab her hindquarters.  She would ALWAYS respond by turning around and trying to bite me.  Even coming after me as I ran for cover.

She sent me to the hospital once.   She was slightly faster than me on one round, and bit me on the palm, leaving a huge gash.  I had to go to the hospital for medical attention.  Imagine me trying to explain that to the doc.

In 2009, we started to notice Hallie having more difficulty breathing.  Her breathing got very noisy so we took her to the doctor, who, after an MRI, determined that she had an adenocarcinoma growing in her right sinus and nasal cavity.  We consulted with a veterinary oncologist, and they said they could give her a few more months, but it was going to be extremely stressful.  She’d been too good a friend to put her through that, so we elected to make her remaining time the best ever.

She got anything she wanted:  steak, hot dogs, rotisserie chicken, scrambled eggs and bacon, and one of her favorites:  cheerios and milk.

She Earned Her Rest

Last week we noticed a cherry-tomato size lump on one of her rear legs, and she started favoring that leg.  Her breathing started to become more labored, and she was having problems sleeping at night.  The tumors in her sinus were making it really tough for her to put her head down and sleep comfortably, and she was completely exhausted.

This morning, she couldn’t put any weight on the leg with tumor, and she fell down the stairs.  We also noticed her nodding off and falling over as she struggled to breathe.  She was still responsive to us, and came when we called her, but she’s been such a good friend that we couldn’t put her through that.  It was clear that she was starting to suffer, and Becky and I agreed that we weren’t going to let that happen.

We canceled all activities for the day, pulled the family together, and told the kids it was time.  Just after 2pm, we all got in the car and drove over to the Southgate Veterinary Clinic (family friend is one of the vets),  and let Hallie go.   Those people were incredibly good to a group of total strangers.

Shortly after 3pm, we started the process, by 3:15pm, she was gone.  She died in my arms, and as she was going, I thought back to our very first day together, when I knew this day would come.  I thanked her for being such a good friend, and let her go.

Here is a link to one of my favorite outings with Hallie. I’m going to miss my friend terribly.

Updated – 06-02-2010:

Becky found a card that Robyn made for Hallie today:

Robyn's Card To Hallie

Robyn's Card To Hallie

Robyn's Card To Hallie

Found this on the nightstand and got a giggle out of this:

Mother's Day 2010

It was a perfect day to celebrate Mothers.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the day was warm.  After Mom opened her cards and present, We took advantage of the good weather to ride the trail to one of our favorite biking rest stops (Big Red’s).  The ride home was exciting:  flat tire on one bike, chain came off another, and we had a spill, complete with skinned knee.

On another note, it was the first Mother’s Day for me without my Mom.  Felt very strange not talking to her (at least on the phone).  I called Dad instead and we had a good visit.

Here’s a quick video of the ride today (shaky camera and all):

• Ipad/Ipod Touch/Ipod/Mac
• Windows

Quads' 8th Birthday

Work and spring sports have pretty much kicked my tail, blowing anything that resembled a schedule.   But we were done by 1pm today, so I had a chance to sift through photos and videos, reorganize and crank out some video.

We can hardly believe it, but Riley, Rachel, Robyn and Randy turned 8 in March, and Nana and Papa were here from Arizona.   Just yesterday, we were up to our ears in dirty diapers, but they’ve gotten B-I-G all of a sudden.

A quick video of the festivities is here in 2 formats:

• iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch format
• Windows Media Format

Happy Birthday, Princess

I’ve been counting down the days until I got to share this with the entire connected world.   Kathy, Brian and I unearthed this little treasure while going through Mom’s office back in early January.  Sadly, I thought I’d accidentally deleted the image while trying to recover some space on my laptop.  Fortunately, however, I had taken extra precautions and uploaded all the family photo scans into a secure location in the ether, and I was able to retrieve it today.

So if you see her on 3/4, be sure to wish Kathy a Happy Birthday, and tell her how much you enjoyed this picture.

Happy Birthday, Princess…er…Sis.

Christmas 2009

This video took me a very long time to put together.  Not because it was technically challenging, although I did get to exercise many of the new Final Cut Studio/Motion/Soundtrack Pro 4 features, but mainly because it was pretty painful.

Christmas 2009 was spread out across the country, and we spent time with our entire immediate family.  Both sets of parents, both sets of aunts, uncles, cousins.  Nana and Papa Budzowski visited from Arizona, and we had a great celebration in Oregon, then we took the show on the road to Kansas City.    As many visitors to the blog are aware, we said goodbye to Grammy Hall (my Mom) over the holidays.  She wanted to see the kids one more time before she passed away.

While saying goodbye was one of the toughest things ever, I’ve sort of come to grips with the fact that having that extra time to say all the things that needed to be said and properly say goodbye was one of the greatest Christmas gifts ever.   And I’m not ashamed to say that I cried like a baby many times while putting the video together over the past couple of months.  I had to put it down a couple of times and do something else for awhile, but I finally finished it.

Here’s the story of our Christmas 2009.  My hope is that someday the kids will look back on this Christmas not with sorrow, but with the knowledge that despite the unpleasantness that surrounds death, they made Grammy very happy.

A very special thanks to the friends at Santa Marta that made things easier and the Christmas brighter.

Click on one of the links below to view video

• iPod
• MOV
• WMV
• MP4

Balloons for Mom

Today would have been Mom’s 74th birthday, and it’s the first one since she passed away. In honor of Mom (Grammy), Becky bought balloons, we all wrote notes, and then set them loose this evening.

Here’s a short video.

Happy birthday, Mom. We miss you.

• Windows Video (WMV)
• iPod

It was time for a change, and there have been a few lately.  I made some updates to the site, including blog software and database upgrades, look/feel change, and tighter integration with facebook.

Probably the most significant upgrades, however, are:

• This site should now be readable on your mobile phone.  Check it out and let me know if you run into issues.
• New address.  This blog can now be found at http://www.allthehalls.net. Please update your bookmarks.  The old randyehall.com address will continue to work for awhile.